Chapter 25

Okay, that had just been a friendly thing, right? One gay bloke to another? Fran seemed the sort for that kind of gesture. Open, a little flamboyant. Because who’d expect a guy running a cat café to be straight anyway? Not like the way they expected a policeman to be straight.

Dez climbed the final set of stairs to his own flat, the last two shopping bags dangling from one hand. He’d never been up for those kinds of gestures—kisses, even from friends, not romantic partners—in public. He’d never really been in an environment where he felt he coulddo that without being…challenged. Okay, aside from a gay bar or two, but he’d never gone to those often. He’d always felt a bit awkward. The people he met there could be police-phobic, usually with good cause.

Never mind. He should stop over-thinking that kiss. If it meant something else, Fran would follow up. Again, he seemed that sort of guy. Not full of fear and running an endless internal monologue of self-doubt and second-guessing.